The invention relates to the field of cooking and more particularly to the field of pizza cooking.
In recent years, the art of pizza cooking, particularly in the restaurant setting, has undergone significant changes. For example, the use of convection ovens has reduced the cooking time, thereby improving the efficiency of the commercial pizza cooking process. Likewise, the use of conveyor ovens has improved the consistency of the pizzas so cooked.
Also within recent years, the pizza business has witnessed certain trends in the public's taste for different types of pizza. In particular, the public has developed a taste for thick, or "pan", pizza, as well as for double crust, or "stuffed", pizza. In response, many pizza establishments now offer at least one of these other types in addition to their original or "thin" pizza.
Unfortunately however, this increased variety in the pizza menu has brought particular problems to the pizza restaurants. For one thing, the thick and double crust pizzas are likely to require longer cooking times. This is a problem because of increased energy costs, because customers typically do not want to wait longer times for their pizza, and because of the decreased efficiency of table capacity in a restaurant when it takes longer to service each customer.
Another problem problem often encountered by pizza restaurants offering these different types of pizzas is the necessity of maintaining ovens at different temperatures. This is because these thicker pizzas are often cooked at lower temperatures so the centers of the pizza can be sufficiently heated before the outsides becomes overcooked. This problem is especially severe with the double crust pizza as the relatively low thermal conduction of the top crust acts as a heat barrier to the ingredients below it.
These problems are compounded when the pizza restaurant uses a conveyor oven. That is, both the temperature of the oven and the speed of the conveyor (to effect a longer or shorter cooking time) may have to be changed depending on the type of pizza cooked. For example, the inventors have observed that whereas a typical "thin" pizza can be cooked in a convection conveyor oven set at 500.degree. F. in 8 minutes, a typical double crust pizza requires 14 minutes in the same oven set at 425.degree. F. Thus, the restaurant may either continually make these adjustments or can dedicate an oven to each type of pizza. Naturally, either situation is disadvantageous, particularly to a high volume pizza restaurant where efficiency is critical.